Bough House

HILLSIDE

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HOMEOWNER: ANONYMOUS

ARCHITECT: LEO MARMOL, MARMOL RADZINER + ASSOCIATES, L.A.

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When his son was 8 years old, the current homeowner, a real estate developer with an eye for architectural properties, promised his son a treehouse. Nine years later he finally got one.

The teenage son's hangout is the hilltop studio of renowned midcentury architect Thornton Ladd. Designed in 1953, it complemented a 6,700-square-foot home just up the hill that Ladd had designed for his mom.

"At the time, it was one of the most talked-about homes in Southern California," says architect Leo Marmol, whose Los Angeles firm, Marmol Radziner + Associates, was called in to restore and upgrade the vintage property, which has dramatic views of both the Rose Bowl and the San Fernando Valley.

"The house design features a selection of patios, gardens and terraces, with each outdoor room a visual extension of an indoor space," says Marmol. "The amount of glass used at the time--in the house and Ladd's studio --was groundbreaking."

The studio is a lyrical composition of horizontal and vertical planes, floating slabs, trellises and a variety of geometric forms. Sixty percent of the perimeter walls are windows and doors made of 3/8-inch-thick tempered glass. The large doors run along an inner track, easily sliding to open the space to the surrounding hillsides, covered with eucalyptus and elm trees.

Exterior shade panels, made by sandwiching rice paper between two layers of safety glass, run along an outer track. Located at each end of the studio and along the long west wall, the shoji-esque screens ensure privacy. The exterior screens/panels now are motorized so that they can be operated by remote control. To offset so much glass, overhangs and sliding shades provide protection from the direct sun, while cross-ventilation provides natural cooling.

The architect transformed the former basement storage space into a bedroom and bathroom, which the owner's son now uses. To emphasize the connection to the outdoors, two pivot doors open onto a new cantilevered cedar deck outside the bedroom. The larger of the two doors, made of glass with a hot-rolled steel frame, is nearly 7 feet wide and weighs a hefty 700 pounds. The designers used aircraft-quality, stainless-steel hinges to support the weight.

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Percentage of glass: 60%

Glazing: 3/8-inch-thick tempered glass

Highlight: steel-frame pivot doors